Notice the time on the post, December 18, 2009 7:32 PM. The content of the post was that Akron sophomore Teal Bunbury and former Rutgers player Dilly Duka had signed Generation adidas contracts with MLS, and that Akron junior Blair Gavin was expected to sign a GA deal.
Problem is that the information contained in the post doesn't appear to be all that exclusive. Duka's signing of a GA contract was announced almost a month ago:
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (November 23, 2009) – Former Rutgers men’s soccer player Dilly Duka signed a Generation adidas contract with Major League Soccer, it was announced. The 5-9 midfielder from Montville, N.J. will continue to train as he awaits the 2010 MLS SuperDraft in St. Louis, Mo.
That's not a rumor site, it's a Rutgers press release.
And Steve Goff announced Bunbury's deal over two and a half hours before the MLS Insider Post:
Teal Bunbury, a sophomore forward who helped Akron to an unbeaten regular season and a berth in the College Cup final, has decided to forego his final two years of college eligibility and sign with MLS, the Insider has learned. The Hermann Trophy finalist will be eligible for selection at the Jan. 14 draft in Philadelphia -- and seems certain to be among the top picks.
That time of posting is December 18, 2009 at 4:53pm. It was subsequently covered by MLS Daily just ten minutes later.
And since Blair Gavin hasn't in fact signed a Generation Adidas deal yet:
Bunbury is likely to be joined by a teammate from this season’s remarkable Akron squad, Blair Gavin . . .
One could argue that there is in fact nothing exclusive about these Generation adidas announcements at all - just a rewriting of stuff that's already out there without crediting the prior sources and speculation on a third player who absolutely no one expected to be GA. I suppose the counter argument is that in regards to Bunbury, since Goff never used the words "Generation adidas," MLS Insider has the exclusive on that aspect. However, considering that 3rd Degree had Bunbury on the list of GA potentials on Thursday, that's not an argument I'm all that receptive to.
As for the other two players mentioned in the MLS Insider post, Toni Stahl and Zach Loyd, they're both seniors who were already invited to the draft combine and who don't get Generation Adidas deals. They have apparently signed with MLS though. So I suppose that's exclusive, but I guess the headline "Two seniors you knew were at the combine anyway sign with MLS" doesn't generate as much attention as a breathless Generation adidas announcement.
I expect better from MLS's official blog, but I suppose this is one of the growing pains I anticipated.
Fake Sigi out.
6 comments:
I have to say... I LOVE what this site has turned into. There is so much fail going on in the world of soccer blogging and nobody ever really calls sites out about it. MLS Rumors takes its fair share of shrapnel, but they are more than deserving. The rest of the group gets off lightly..
Keep torpedoing at will, Fake Sigi. I love you for it!
Much love in return, anonymous commenter. This stuff has always been part of the site, we just do it bigger and better now.
Too bad you never give credit where it's due..who had the first interview with Teal Bunbury?
after the declaration...
It's hard to say: http://www.24thminute.com/2009/12/its-called-football-guest-teal-bunbury.html
Whatever, really...
Duane out!
Oh, and have a great Christmas. I hope you get all that you deserve.
Love,
Some Canadian blogger.
That's great, but why would I mention the interview in this post? Had Bunbury chosen the podcast as the place to break the news that he was signing a GA deal (why he would do that i don't know, but I suppose it could happen) then that would have been relevant. But as you say the interview took place after all the news came out.
It's amazing to me that you're so concerned with getting credit you'll come over here at 2:30 in the morning to make random comments about how great you are in posts that have nothing to do with you.
-FS
That last comment was 80% fine, but I think you can guess which part wasn't. No personal attacks. Since Blogger doesn't allow inline-editing, the whole thing has to go. Sorry.
-FS
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